Every Chance We Get We Run
by go-sullivan
Summary: When the world falls apart, Paige McCullers is right there with Hanna Marin. She knows she couldn't survive this on her own, and Hanna is the only thing she has left. It's just the two of them against the undead. Until it isn't. PLL!zombie apocalypse vic. Mentions of Paily and Haleb. Warnings: It a zombie fic, so there's a lot of death and gore.
1. Prologue

Paige took a break in her chopping wood for the stove to wipe some sweat from her brow. She glanced out over the fields. Still empty. That was a reassuring and calming sight. She went back to work. She raised the axe up and then brought it down. She bent down to pick up another piece of wood.

"Looks like you could use a drink."

Paige turned towards the farmhouse and grinned. She took the glass of lemonade, the ice cubes clinking as she lifted it up to her lips. She took a big gulp. "Thanks, Han."

"No problem." Hanna was sipping on her own glass, studying her. Paige ducked her head bashfully. She was still a little shy when people watched her. Especially since all she was in was dusty jeans and a work shirt that had belonged to The Farmer, drenched in sweat.

These days people were Hanna. Just Hanna and her.

"We're running low on gas." Hanna took another sip.

"Tomorrow we'll go on a run." Paige downed the rest of the cool lemonade.

It was going to get harder and harder to find fuel to run the generator. They didn't use it that often, so they had been able to make the farm's fuel storage last. They both knew in the future, they'd have to go without electricity. But until then they could enjoy some small pleasures like ice cubes and music every once and a little while.

Stumbling across the farm was a Godsend. It had everything they needed to survive. A vegetable garden and a lemon tree. A hen house. Goats. A generator. And a lot of food already stored up in the cellar.

Paige had been a little weary of staying there too long. But Hanna wanted to stay. And after traveling with her for three years, Paige couldn't say no to Hanna. The two of them had been on the farm for almost four years now.

Surviving.

"Oh." Hanna was looking over her shoulder. She turned around. There was a figure stumbling towards the farm in the distance. It was still a ways off but she could see the rotting flesh and exposed bone. It was missing an arm.

"I'll take care of it." Paige nodded to Hanna and walked towards it with axe in hand. The lurcher had gotten stuck at the fence, pressing forward but not getting anywhere. When it saw Paige, it groaned and flailed it's arm, trying to reach her. She swung back and brought the axe into the side of it's head. With a hard jerk of her arms, she pulled the axe free.

The lurcher stilled.


	2. Chapter 1

So here we go. The first chapter. By popular demand. Of like three people. The ending of this chapter is a hard one. I don't know how I ended up writing it. Don't hate me. Warning: This chapter is going to be dark, as if the zombie genre was anything but. Character deaths ahead. And a lot of blood.

Read and Review

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Seven Years Ago

"How about this one? Your legs will look amazing!" Hanna held up a black skirt. A very short black skirt that Paige wouldn't get caught dead in.

"I don't know, Hanna." Paige backed away. She was starting to regret asking for the blonde's help. She just wanted Hanna to help her pick out the perfect gift for Emily's birthday. But then Hanna had started asking what she was going to wear and Paige had made the mistake of shrugging. So really she brought this down on herself.

"You have to show skin to get skin." Hanna grinned, but put the skirt back on the rack. "You don't seem to mind showing off your back and shoulders, so let's find the perfect top that does just that and pair it with some dark skinny jeans. How does that sound?"

Paige gave a small smile of relief. Hanna knew what she was comfortable with. "I'd like that."

"Good. Trust me. With my help, dinner won't be the only thing you'll be eating tonight." Hanna winked.

Instead of blushing, Paige chuckled. She had gotten used to the other girl's sense of humor. She didn't have a filter and just said whatever popped into her head. After hiding part of herself for so long, it's such a relief.

Hanna went through another rack and selected a shirt. It was a deep red top that shone in the light. It was pretty much just half of a shirt with how much it was going to show off her back and arms. "Well, go try it on."

"Fine." Paige sighed, but she was only pretending to be put off. Hanna had great taste in clothes, at least compared to Aria and Spencer. They were good looking girls, but sometimes Paige didn't really understand their choices. "And we still need to get a gift for Emily."

"Hey, the best gift you can give Emily is yourself. Wear this shirt and she'll be ripping it off you like wrapping paper. I know my best friend." Hanna smirked. "Jewelry is always good too."

"Caleb did say you liked shiny things." Paige teased.

Caleb was keeping Emily occupied. Apparently her laptop had gotten some kind of virus and he was helping her with that. Paige was sure that her girlfriend's laptop was in good hands since it was probably the hacker that was behind the virus in the first place.

"I owe you guys." She took the shirt from the blonde.

"Yeah you do." Hanna pushed her towards the changing rooms. "I'll be right here waiting for you. I want to see how hot you look."

But before Paige could get into the one of the changing rooms, an alarm started going off. "Uh. Should we be doing something?"

A saleswoman sighed. "It's been doing that all week."

Paige had a bad feeling about the alarm. It couldn't mean anything good. She could also tell that the alarm was making Hanna uncomfortable too. She moved closer to the other girl.

Two security guards ran past the store's entrance. Someone had started screaming and then there was more shouting. Paige moved Hanna behind her. Some other mall patrons were moving quickly in the opposite direction. A couple of gunshots rang out.

"Okay. We should be leaving." Paige said to Hanna. She looked for another way out. There was a fire exit in the back of the shop.

"No. Everyone stay put." A older woman motioned to them. She must have been the manager. She went to the front of the shop.

A man ran up to her and knocked her over. He was on her and she was screaming. Another customer ran over to help and Paige wanted to help as well, but Hanna was holding onto her arm tightly. The Good Samaritan customer yelled and pulled his arm back clutching it to his chest. His girlfriend started screaming just as the store manager stopped thrashing and stilled.

The attacker looked up, blood covering his mouth.

"Oh shit." Paige pulled Hanna along behind her. She didn't slow down as they reached the fire exit. The door shut behind them and they found themselves in a drab hallway. Paige glanced up and down and moved away from the door they had just come through.

They kept running in what Paige hoped was the right direction. She heard people behind them, but she didn't stop to turn around. As long as Hanna was still holding her hand, then she would keep going. There was a door in front of them. She pushed through that too.

They were in a parking lot filled with more chaos. Paige couldn't remember where they had parked. But that didn't matter since there was a car with the driver's door open in front of them. Again, she pulled Hanna along towards the car.

She registered a middle aged man standing over a prone body with a cell phone up to his ear. She yelled at him, trying to warn him. But the body lunged at him and he fell backwards. The body was soon on him.

Paige pushed Hanna into the car, and got in behind her as soon as the blonde scrambled into the passenger seat. The engine was still running so she just put the car into reverse quickly and then drove off.

She quickly pulled out of the parking lot and got onto the street. She felt like throwing up. She had just stolen a car and left the owner to die.

But if what she thought was happening was really happening then there wasn't much she could have done for him.

"Those... those things were eating them." Hanna was shaking.

"Yeah." Paige herself was gripping the steering wheel tight..

"Thanks. For getting me out of there. You saved me." Hanna continued.

Paige focused on driving. She didn't want to start speeding like the other cars out on the road. She checked her blind spots and side mirrors. She was extra careful at intersections. They'd get into an accident and then they'd be screwed. But she still saw the man's face twisted in agony as his intestines were torn out.

"Paige. You saved us. You did what you had to." Hanna put a hand on her thigh. "He was dead the moment the zombie bit him."

"You think that's what this is? Zombies?" It sounded crazy to her. But if Hanna was thinking the same thing. She turned on the radio.

ABBA's Dancing Queen blared out of the speakers. Paige gritted her teeth. Now was not the time. Even Hanna was annoyed as she flipped to another station.

"Whoa, wait. Right there." Paige shouted out. Hanna stopped flipping through the different stations.

"...issued an outbreak of a highly contagious virus. Reports from various sources state that outbreaks have occurred in multiple hospitals across the county. Symptoms include uncoordinated movement, confusion, and eventually sudden death. Reports have stated that those infected have acted out in a violent manner. Citizens are advised to avoid those with these symptoms and to stay indoors until the situation is dealt with. Stay tuned for further information."

"I have to call my mom. She has to know I'm okay." Hanna's eyes went wide. She glanced around in a panic. "I dropped my purse. My phone was in there."

"You can use my phone. It's in my front pocket." Paige stated calmly. She slowed the car down to take to it out of her pocket. They had gotten this far without getting into an accident and she wanted to keep it that way. They had just driven past a crashed car surrounded by blood but no bodies.

Her phone started to ring. She pulled her phone out and saw Emily's name flash on the screen. She answered it. "Emily!"

"Paige! Thank God you're okay. Where are you?" Emily was relieved, but there was still a lot of urgency in her voice. "Are you with Hanna?"

"Yeah. Hold on, let me put you on speaker phone." She wanted to focus on driving.

"Hanna, Caleb is still here. Please stay safe." Emily cried. "It's all over the news. It's-"

"We're on our way. I'll be there soon, Em."

There was a banging on the door in the background. There was shouting too.

"Paige, I love you." There was a panic in Emily's voice

"We have to get to Emily's." Paige glanced over at Hanna, who was nodding in agreement.

"Try to get in touch with your mom." Paige gripped the steering wheel hard.

Hanna punched in the number. Paige thanked whoever was listening that the blonde knew the phone number by heart.

It hurt to hear Hanna's mother say goodbye. Paige wished they could do something. But New York was far away. And so was Scranton. So they tried to get to whom they could. Paige just kept her eyes forward.

Maybe it was heartless to ignore the chaos that was surrounding them. But she could only think about Emily. If she got to Emily they would be safe.

They were almost to the Fields' house.

"Hanna, I need you to look in the back of the car. See if there's anything we can use."

Hanna agreed. Seemed like she could use the distraction. She was quiet as she crawled into the back seat. She checked the back of the station wagon.

"Um, what do guns look like?"

"What- why?" Paige wasn't that fluent in Hanna-speak but she was getting there. Still, she was confused.

"Because unless skis have triggers, this car has has couple of rifles."

"Okay. That's good. What else?"

"There's bags and stuff." The sound of a bag being opened reached her. "Oh. Looks like that guy was the outdoorsy type."

Paige grimaced. She knew their was nothing she could do for the man. Once that thing ripped into him, he was dead.

"How do you know?"

"He has things for camping. Like a tent and gas stove. Trust me, I saw this stuff at fat camp. Awesome, there's a shovel and a hatchet."

"He had things." Paige added the guns to the equation. "He must have been a hunter."

"Paige," Hanna sighed. "You did what you had to. Once the zombie had him, he was dead."

There was that word again.

"Are we sure these things are zombies?"

"What else could they be? They act like those things in the video game Caleb taught me to play." Hanna frowned. "And the movies Emily loves."

"Hey. We'll get to them."

Hanna didn't say anything.

Paige drove up as close as she could to Emily's porch. "Hand me the shovel. And you get up here. Once I get out of the car, I need you to get behind the wheel."

"I'm coming with you." Hanna crawled back into the passenger seat.

Paige controlled her emotions. She didn't know what she would find inside. "No. You need to stay here. That way we can make a clean get away when I get back. If... If I don't come out. You drive away."

"I can't do that."

"You're going to have to. Are you ready?" Paige asked.

"Just come back." Hanna shook her head.

Paige slowly opened the door, and just as slowly she closed it. She had played the same games Caleb had. She had even played with him online. She didn't know the rules yet. If loud noises attracted these things. If they were the fast kind or the slow creeping ones. There were rules and she had to be careful until she learned them.

She gripped the shovel tightly and made her way to the front porch. The front door was slightly open. That wasn't a good sign. She pushed it open with her foot and went inside.

"Emily? Caleb?" Paige called out softly as she went into the dining room. "Mrs. Fields?"

She made it into the kitchen. It was empty. But it looked someone had been in the middle of making sandwiches. Slices of bread were laid out with a packet of sliced turkey. Paige frowned.

She left the kitchen and headed towards the back of the house. That's when she saw the blood and a broken wooden stick. The back door was wide open. She could only guess at what happened. That a neighbor had run up to the door bleeding and screaming about how someone had bit them. Emily, the kind soul that she was would let them in to help. She was too nice.

But if the infected had turned, then there should have been more blood or a body. Bodies. God, what happened here?

There was a creak. And Paige turned to the sound.

There was the body she was looking for. It was standing there at the foot of the stairs. She moved closer with shovel raised to bash in it's head.

As if sensing her movement, it swiveled its face towards her.

With relief, Paige realized that it wasn't anyone she had been looking for. But it was someone she recognized. It was the hypothetical neighbor made real. Mrs. Romano lived next door. The woman would glare at her every she came to see Emily. She was never outright nasty to her or Emily, but Paige knew the woman had been disgusted with their relationship.

Her skin was sickly pale and she had dark circles under eyes. She would have looked like she was only severely ill if it weren't for the dried black substance around her mouth. She gave her a hungry look, and barred her teeth. It was the only warning she got before the woman charged. But Paige had been ready and slammed the shovel down hard. Even though the woman had been a judgmental jerk, Paige felt a twinge of guilt. This had been somebody's wife and mother.

"Holy shit."

She looked up to see Hanna standing with a revolver in her hands.

"Paige!" The blonde screamed.

The body was starting to move. She brought the shovel down hard again, making sure the head was completely destroyed.

"I thought I told you to stay in the car." Paige was shaking.

"I'm not very good at following directions." Hanna shrugged.

"Nope, but thanks. Where did you get the gun?" Paige raised an eyebrow at what she was holding in her hand.

"It was in the glove compartment. It's cool right?"

"Do you know how to use it?"

"Point and pull, what's so hard about it?"

Paige stared at her.

"God, what do you think? Mr. Fields brought us to the firing range a couple of times. I liked it. I was actually better than Spencer. She was pouting the whole way back."

"What about Emily?" Paige asked suddenly.

"She was loads better. She said she had been going with her dad since she was old enough. I wanted to be on her team if we ever did paintball. Guess we'll never get to."

That made Paige think. It was almost like Mr. Fields had been preparing Emily and them for something.

"Paige!"

"Hmm?"

"I was asking if you knew how to shoot a gun."

"Yeah. I do. My grandmother taught me every time I visited their farm. Rifles and pistols. She was a champion marksman."

"That's like really convenient."

"Not as convenient as Mr. Fields making sure his daughter and all her friends knew how to fire guns." Paige moved towards the den.

"When you say it like that….."

"There's no one here." The den was empty as well. The tv was on with an XBox hooked up to it. Left 4 Dead of all things had been what Caleb and Emily had been playing.

"What's that?" Hanna was moving towards a huge bag.

It was the kind someone in the military would use. Which made sense considering that Emily's dad was a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard. Another convenience.

"There's a note."

_Paige,_

_Emily was sure if anyone would survive this, it would be you. Which is why she refused to leave you. But Wayne convinced her and Caleb. I'm so sorry we couldn't wait. There was no time. But we're all safe. Here are some supplies._

_Once you read this, you need to get to the old state games land near Tremont, off Route 209. You'll know when you get there. It's a safe zone. Bring Hanna and whoever you can save._

_Stay safe._

Paige looked up at Hanna. "They're safe."

"Could you check the bag? I want to grab something upstairs." Hanna nodded her head towards the stairs.

"Okay. But hurry."

Paige went through the bag quickly. There were MREs and canteens filled with water, as well as water purification tablets. There was medication and a first aid kit. There was also a machete, a shotgun with a bunch of shells, and a handgun with boxes of ammo.

"Hey," Hanna called her.

"I was thinking. We should get Aria and Spencer."

Hanna looked stricken. "They didn't even cross my mind. I'm a terrible friend."

Paige nodded. She had been the same way. She wondered about her friends and Pru. Her friend was on some class trip. There were a lot of people that flashed across her mind. It was scary how they couldn't save everyone.

"Hey, I think it's okay to have tunnel vision in this situation. But Spencer is closest, right?"

"Yeah. Her being a huge nerd means she's probably at home studying. Her house is just on the other side of the woods." Hanna looked towards the back of the house.

It was true. At the edge of Emily's backyard, there was a few trees that separated the Hastings property from the Fields. There was a shortcut through there, Emily had said.

"We're going to have to drive around."

They got back into the station wagon with the military pack and another hiking bag filled with some food from the pantry. It wasn't long before the car turned down Bridgewater Terrace.

Paige hated that there was a gate. Peter Hastings's snobbery made for a difficult rescue mission. Luckily Hanna knew how to get inside. Soon, they were driving up the long driveway.

"Whose car is that in behind Spencer's?"

"I think it's Wren Kingston's."

"Um, the doctor?" Paige knew the name from when Emily told her about how A had drugged her with human growth hormone. She thought it was weird how the young doctor knew to order tests for that.

"He's a snake in the hand."

"Snake in the grass." Paige corrected her.

"Whatever, he's poison. Don't let that accent fool you."

"Well, it would be good to have a medical doctor with us." Paige shook her head.

"Just as long as he keeps his lips to himself. I don't need his mouth all over me." Hanna shuddered. "I call shotgun."

"Whoa. Not so fast. The recoil on that thing is going to be a bitch." Paige frowned. "Just stick with the Shield."

"The what?" Hanna scrunched her face up in confusion.

"The name of the gun. It's a Smith &amp; Wesson Shield. My aunt has one at her cabin." Paige wondered about her aunt. She hoped she was okay.

"Fine. But I am going with you."

Paige grabbed the machete. Video games made it look so much easier to carry around an arsenal. But she knew she didn't have to reload a bladed weapon.

They crept up slowly to the house. Hanna pointed at a door. "Kitchen."

"Cover my back." Paige told Hanna.

The door was unlocked. She always wondered about that. If there was a maniacal shadow out to get you, wouldn't you keep the doors locked? That was a silver lining in this. A was the least of their problems.

She opened the door, and went inside this time with the machete raised and ready to come down.

She took a step and slipped. She landed on her back with a thud. She groaned and propped herself up. Her hands were in something wet. She examined her hand. She had slipped in blood.

There was a lot of blood in the kitchen.

"Shit."

Something grabbed her ankle.

She cursed herself for dropping the machete. She kicked out and her foot connected with the infected's face. It let go and she scooted backward on the blood.

It came forward again and she grabbed for the machete. She twisted to bring the blade in front of her. Her brain had enough time to recognize it as Peter Hastings before a gun went off and a part of his head disappeared.

"Oh God. I shot Spencer's dad in the face."

"Hanna," Paige got to her feet. "That wasn't Mr. Hastings anymore. You saved me."

"Okay." Hanna was trembling with tears in her eyes.

With Mr. Hastings dead, things didn't look didn't look good.

They heard a pounding. Something told her it would be stupid to investigate, but she couldn't live with herself if she didn't know what happened here. She couldn't just leave without making sure there were no survivors here.

The pounding stopped. Then there came a shuffling. They turned and saw a thing creeping towards them.

"You're definitely going to want his mouth nowhere near you." Paige had the machete ready. She stepped towards the zombie. "Dr. Kingston, I presume?"

"Did you just?"

She ignored Hanna as she brought the machete right into the thing's head. She struggled to dislodge the blade from the skull, so she kicked it and it fell over. Since the thing was still, she moved away.

"This is so messed up." Hanna swayed on her feet.

Paige had her arm around her. "Don't fall apart on me, okay? I need you."

Hanna set her jaw. She nodded determinedly. They moved as one towards the direction the pounding had come from. They found a door with bloody handprints on it.

"It's Mr. Hastings's home office."

Paige put her hand on the doorknob. She opened the door but it wouldn't budge. She pushed harder and whatever was against the door budged. She pressed into the room.

There was nobody inside. And there was no body. There was more blood. Whoever it belonged too was no longer alive. To Paige, it meant one more zombie to take care of.

The trail of blood went out the window. Hanna was already looking out of it.

"The barn."

Hanna was pointing at the small building. Beyond it was the copse of trees which hid Emily's house from view. She had to wonder if they had come here on foot, would they have been able to prevent the bloodbath.

It was probably for the best. They could have been bitten and killed themselves.

They probably should have turned back, but Paige was already climbing out the window. She was pulling a stunt that would have had her yelling at a character in a horror movie for doing. She helped Hanna come through. Then they made their way to the barn.

It was a nice little building. She knew Spencer had been working on converting it into a living space because she would not shut up about it during sophomore year.

They followed the blood to a door on the side. Again, she reached out for the doorknob.

"Wait. I can't. What if Spencer is in there and she's..."

"I understand." She looked at the door. "Hello," she shouted through it.

"Don't come in here," came a muffled reply.

Both of their eye's widened. Paige twisted the knob. She tried to push the door open but was once more met with resistance. She pushed her shoulder against the door with more force. It did the job and moved whatever had been against the door. Hanna and Paige rushed inside.

"No!" Melissa Hastings was backed against the wall.

"It's okay. We're not infected." Paige held her hands up in front of her.

"Well, I am." Melissa held up her arm. "I was bitten."

"We don't know for sure that's how you become infected." Paige said. But she knew she was trying to convince herself as well. In all the movies and games, once you got bitten, you became a zombie.

"Yeah. Well, Wren came over raving about how a patient bit him last night and he comes down for brunch and instead of the eggs Florentine, he takes a bite out of my mom's neck." Melissa clenched her eyes shut. "My dad pulled him off of her. But she was losing so much blood."

"I'm sorry." Paige reached out to comfort her but Melissa jerked away.

"We tried to get my mom to someone that could help. But she died here." Melissa slid down the wall.

"Paige," Hanna whispered in her ear, motioning towards a pair of legs sticking out from behind some cardboard boxes.

"And then she came back."

"Shit." Paige murmured.

"Spencer was so relieved. She ran to her... It." Melissa corrected herself. "But I knew that thing wasn't our mother."

"So you pushed Spencer out of the way. And that's how you got bit." Paige shuddered.

"Spencer had to fight it off with her field hockey stick. But it was too late for me."

"So where is she?"

"Hanna!"

"It's alright. I know you guys never liked me. But I was always looking out for Spencer." Melissa coughed. "I told her to run to Emily's. Thought she would be safe there"

"You were right." Paige realized that the broken wooden stick at Emily's house was what was left of Spencer's field hockey stick. That the blood at the back door had belonged to Veronica Hastings. "She made it. And Mr. Fields took her with them. She's safe."

"That's good." Melissa was shaking.

"Why does it smell like gas in here?"

Paige noticed the smell now. She saw the lighter in Melissa's hand. She saw the liquid all over the floor.

"Kerosene actually. And some vodka. Gin." Melissa wheezed. "I wanted to make sure I didn't come back like that. I'm glad Wren was a smoker. Bastard came through in the end. But then again, it's his fault."

Paige realized what Melissa had intended to do. She was going to burn down the barn with her still in it.

"Did you take care of him?" Melissa coughed again. This time there was blood.

"Yes." Paige nodded. "If you'd like I could..."

"I'd like that." Melissa sighed.

"Hanna, give me the gun."

The blonde complied. "Melissa, I'm sorry I thought you were A."

"If you guys ever see Spencer again, tell her I love her." Melissa was shaking hard now.

Paige pointed the gun at Melissa's head. "We will."

"One more thing, don't forget to save a bullet for yourselves." Melissa said through clenched teeth.

Paige was shaking hard. She couldn't do this. Zombies were different. They were already gone. Hanna was crying, and so was she. That explained the blurred vision.

"Do it!" Melissa shrieked as she convulsed.

Paige pointed the gun and pulled the trigger. It was done.


	3. Chapter 2

**Hi guys. Sorry for the really, really long time it took to update this. School has been swamping me this shift. It got shortened to two months. TWO MONTH TO LEARN TWO BODY SYSTEMS? And it wasn't even a full two months because we had like ten holidays that I used to try to catch up on everything and failed to do so. *cries* I regret all my life choices.**

**Anyway there's not much action in this chapter. I think the cool thing about zombie fics are the human actions. The human heroes and the human monsters. **

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Paige watched the barn burn down. It felt like closure. At least where the Hastings were concerned. She had dragged the other two bodies inside with the others.

She lingered for moment before going back inside the house. They had to get moving again.

Hanna was sitting on the stairs.

"We should go. Get to Aria's."

"No one's home. After all this crazy, I just remembered. Mr. Montgomery is in Syracuse. Mike is visiting his mom. Aria is on that creative writing retreat."

"Yeah. A lot of people went on that." Paige knew it was just an excuse to get drunk at some camp site. You didn't even have to be taking creative writing. Pru had tried to get her to go. But she wanted to spend the weekend with Emily. She hoped her friend and the rest of them were okay.

"Aria went because Fitz was one of the chaperones. So at least she's with her boyfriend."

Paige had heard the rumors. The thought made her really uncomfortable, so she never asked Emily to confirm them If he wasn't their teacher, it probably wouldn't have been so weird. But she guessed if it made Aria happy, she didn't really care.

"I'm sure they're okay. That's really close to where the note said to go." Paige offered. She was familiar with Tremont. Her family used to go to the campsite up there until the government bought the land and closed it and the games land off to the public. Her family had just started going to another campsite.

"How is it we're all separated when the world ends?"

"I don't know." Paige took a seat beside her. "But you have me. And I know I'm glad you're here."

"It's getting dark. Could we just breathe for one night?" Hanna pleaded.

"I do want to get cleaned up." Paige had taken off her blood soaked plaid button up and was just down to a white ribbed tank top. She was sure a shower would never get rid of the feeling of all the blood, but she was going to try. She tried to lighten the mood. "I am kinda gross."

"I don't want to go back out there until tomorrow." Hanna took her hand into her own.

"You don't have to say anything else." Paige knew how Hanna was feeling. If she was honest with herself, she felt the same way.

The things that go bump in the night were now a reality. And aside from that, they just had to destroy the monsters that looked like people they knew. That was enough to get even the strongest of people to break down.

"Let me go get cleaned up and I'll make us something to eat."

"I don't know if I can stomach anything." Hanna grimaced.

"We should eat while we can. Keep our strength up. Last time we ate was a pretzel at the mall." Paige tried to joke with her.

"You're right, Paige. The bathroom is the second door on the right." Hanna waved her off.

It seemed she needed some time to process everything that happened. Paige would give her the time she needed, but if she needed to, she would pull Hanna out of it. She squeezed the blonde on the shoulder before she went up the stairs.

The bathroom was where Hanna said it would be. And it was everything she expected a Hastings would have in a bathroom. It was very stylish. The shower was encased in glass and huge. She remembered Emily telling her that the stall doubled as a sauna. At the time, she thought it had its appeal, but it was still ostentatious for her taste.

She found a stack of clean, plush towels set on a shelf. She could imagine Mrs. Hastings picking out the towels for her family to use. Paige paused and closed her eyes for a moment of silence.

She took off her tank top that was soaked with blood. She threw it in the trash, along with most of her clothes. She would figure out what to do about clean clothes after her shower.

She turned on the shower and stepped under the spray of water. She turned her face up towards the spigot and just let everything wash off for both of them.

After a moment, Paige picked up the bottle of shampoo. She was hesitant to smell like either of the Hastings sisters. But she had no choice. She just hoped she didn't pick Spencer's shampoo or soap.

With the bottle, she took a whiff of it. Spencer smelt like spice in all the situations they had to be in close quarters. This wasn't a spicy scent, like ginger. She thought this was Melissa's. It was a nice woodsy scent. L'Oreal EverPure Rosemary-Juniper was what it said on the bottle. If the world wasn't ending, she'd make a note to buy some at the store.

She finished up with her shower. She wrapped a towel around her body and one around her hair. She stepped out into the hall.

"Paige?"

"Yeah, Hanna?" Paige moved to the door she heard the blonde's voice come from. She went through the door and found herself in what she's guessed to be Spencer's room. Hanna was curled up on the canopy bed, clutching a pillow to her chest. She sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Paige, what's going to happen to us?"

"We get to the safe zone. And we'll be fine." Paige stroked the top of Hanna's head.

Paige didn't want to voice her fear that this could end badly for them. She didn't want to think about that. She took life by steps. Each step would bring her closer to her goals. Get a scholarship. Graduate high school. Get out of Rosewood. Get a degree. Get a job. Marry Emily. Start a family. Grow old with Emily. Her long term goal was "Be happy".

Zombies seriously threw a wrench in all of that. But she could adapt.

She rewrote her mental to-do list. At least she didn't have to change one of her steps. Get the hell out of Rosewood was still high on the list. But it was an admittedly short list now: Keep Hanna safe. Try not to die.

Find Emily.

It was all easier said than done.

Hanna didn't say anything.

"Why don't you get cleaned up yourself? It'll make you feel better." Paige smiled at her.

"Even though I didn't get covered in… I do feel gross." Hanna sat up and hugged her. "Thanks, Paige."

Paige returned the hug. She tried not to think about how the only thing she had on was a towel. Hanna bounced off the bed and left the room, leaving her alone to glance around. It was exactly how she imagined Spencer's room would look like, from the canopy bed to the wallpaper. The room matched the classy and immaculate taste Spencer had at school and that Paige admired. She stood up. She might as well get dressed and then get started on dinner.

She went to what she thought would be Spencer's closet. While their parents were both members of the country club, Paige's tastes in clothes didn't carry such a hefty price tag. She went for comfort. But she did notice she and Spencer had some overlap in clothes. She picked a long sleeve maroon t-shirt, a Rosewood Sharks hoodie and some grey slacks. They weren't an exact fit since Spencer was smaller in some areas than she was, but it wasn't really too much of an issue. Lucky for her, she and Spencer shared the same shoe size. She picked out a pair of black Doc Marten's that she was surprised to find. She didn't think Spencer was the type. Once she towel dried her hair to slightly damp, she went downstairs.

The kitchen was still bloody even after trying her best to clean up. She just didn't want to slip again, and for Hanna to be uncomfortable. In the freezer, she found some choice cut steaks. She decided that's what they would have for dinner. They would just go to waste otherwise. And they deserved a treat after today. She took the steaks out of the freezer to let them become room temperature.

Paige found a cast-iron skillet in a cabinet. She popped it into the oven and set it to preheat at 400 F. Once she was sure the skillet had been heated up fully, she used oven mitts to transfer it to the stove. She put the burner on high heat, and left the oven on.

It was then that Hanna came downstairs. Paige looked over at her. "Hey, hope steak is okay for dinner."

"Its… great." Hanna said in a subdued way. It was entirely unlike her. The blonde watched Paige season the steak with some salt and pepper. "Because of course you know how to do that."

"Yeah. My dad taught me. He wanted to impart some wisdom to me on and I'm using his exact words, "how to woo the ladies." Which is funny because he's a huge dork and has only ever had eyes for one woman. My mom." Paige explained lightly as she cooked their steaks. She hoped to cheer Hanna up.

"So you're pretty much his daughter. Huge dork. Check. Only has eyes for one girl. Check." Hanna gave her the tiniest of smiles.

"You got me. So to continue my story. He's like "This will really impress your girl. Romantic dinners. Have more than just one thing up your sleeve. Wait, she's not one of those vegans, is she? Because I know if you're a lesbian you're not really into meat." And I swear his eyes went so wide when he realized what he said. I think we were both pretty much embarrassed. But my mom was laughing at us." She rubbed her eye. She missed Emily, but she missed her parents. She hoped they were okay. She hadn't been able to reach them at all.

"Your dad sounds adorable."

"Aww. You think I'm adorable then." Paige grinned. "Since you said I'm every inch his daughter."

"Adorkable even." Hanna laughed. "Are you sure you want adorable to be the word I use to describe you?"

"On second thought. Let's go with rugged and badass."

"You can only get one word." The blonde scoffed.

"Fine." Paige put a finger to her chin as if she was in deep thought, putting on a show for Hanna. "Rugged and badass do convey the same image I'm going for. I think I'll choose badass. It just sounds more… badass."

"You picture the same thing when you heard rugged and badass? Because to me rugged is what I call a sexy hot lumberjack in flannel. And badass is Samuel L. Jackson." Hanna explained.

"If I were a lumberjack, I would be sexy hot. Because I'm always sexy hot." Paige knew she was clowning around. But it was worth it to see Hanna smiling. It was a distraction for both of them.

"Can I help?"

"I got this. But I saw some stuff to make a salad in the fridge. You can start on that." Paige looked up at her.

"I can do that." Hanna went into the fridge and pulled out the bag of ready to make salad. She then got out a big bowl. She poured the greens into the bowl and started to mix it all together.

When the steaks were done cooking, Paige got them on a plate and set it in front of her. Hanna gave them salad. Paige smiled at her. "Thanks."

"Thank you for this. I mean, this is really nice. Making dinner with you. It's almost like it's normal instead of…"

"It is. So I'm glad. I think we need the distraction while we can afford it." Paige looked at the cabinet. "And I also think we should have some wine with dinner."

"Okay. The Hastings have great taste in wine." Her eyes widened once she heard what she had said. "I mean had. Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Paige nodded at the blonde. It was an honest mistake.

"One minute Spencer's family was alive, and then they just weren't. There was so much blood."

"I won't let that happen to you."

"If it were anyone else, I wouldn't believe them. But I believe you." Hanna closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. "Let me finish the salad."

Once the steaks were done, Paige and brought the food over to the kitchen island. Hanna had set the table when she had finished with the salad. She had gone all out. The table almost looked like it was set for a romantic dinner between a couple. It was nice plates and placemats, with beautiful silverware and glasses. There was also a lit candle at the center.

"Fancy." Paige smiled.

"I wanted to do something nice." Hanna played with the fork. "It may be our last opportunity to do something like this."

"Do mind if I say grace?" Paige looked at Hanna. "I'm sorry. We don't have to."

"If that's what you normally do for dinner, then of course we can." Hanna smiled at her softly. She offered Paige her hands, and she accepted. The two of them bowed their heads and had a moment of silence.

"It's such a blessing to be able to have a beautiful meal with great company. Bless our loved ones and keep them safe. Amen."

"Amen." Hanna repeated. "That was nice."

Paige had kept it short and sweet. She kept Hanna's comfort in mind. She didn't know if the blonde was any kind of religious, but it was respectful of Hanna to give her this moment.

"Thanks." Paige opened the bottle of wine. "This should go well with the steak."

"And you know your wines. Why am I not surprised?" Hanna laughed as Paige poured her a glass.

"That was my mom's doing actually." Paige poured herself some wine.

"Let's have a toast?" Hanna asked. "I have some things to say too."

"I'd like that."

"To the Hastings, who did everything they could to keep Spencer alive." Hanna raised her glass.

As Paige raised her glass, she thought about how from what Emily told her, the Hastings family were distant but the love was there. They came through for Spencer in the end.

"And to us making it through this." The blonde added.

"We will." The two of them drank their wine.

Hanna cut her steak and took a bite. She moaned a little bit. "This is so good. I should have had you cook for me way before now. Emily is a lucky girl."

Paige paused. Hanna's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. Paige! I'm so sorry me and my stupid mouth." Hanna held her hand. "We'll find her."

"I know we will." Paige said firmly. There was no room for doubt. This was what they were going to do. This was how they were going to survive.

They made small talk for the rest of the meal, trying to distract themselves from what was happening around them. But they enjoyed the food and each other's company.

"You know what would be the perfect ending to this dinner?" Paige asked, flashing Hanna a huge grin.

"What?"

"Dessert."

Hanna caught on quickly. "Yeah! Actually, I think there's ice cream in the freezer."

"I was thinking more along the lines of cake. Don't tell me you didn't see the box in there from Sophia's?" At Hanna's blank look, Paige explained further. "One of the best bakeries in the city."

"I wouldn't expect anything else from the Hastings." Hanna nodded.

Paige went to the fridge and took the box out. It was the signature baby blue box with the bakery's logo. She opened it. "Cannolis. It's what they're know for. Do you mind getting out some dessert plates?"

"Those are the tiny ones, right?"

"Well, whatever ones you want to use." Paige laughed. "Put a dessert on them and I guess the plate would become a dessert plate."

"Did you hear that?" Hanna asked.

The noise came again. They both jumped up into action. Hanna grabbed her revolver and Paige grabbed the machete.

Something was pounding the door. Paige held her breath and it looked like Hanna was doing the same. The pounding stopped, but the next noise was someone trying the doorknob. Paige had made sure that it was locked and that there was something against it, stopping something from coming through.

"Can zombies turn doorknobs?" Hanna said loudly.

"Spencer!" A voice shouted on the other side of the door. "It's okay. It's me."

"Toby?" Hanna shouted back.

"Hanna? Let me in." Toby said again.

Hanna moved towards the door. Paige stopped her. "Hold on. Have you been bitten?"

"No. Is Spencer with you?"

Paige knew how stupid it was to ask. She didn't know Toby as well as Hanna. She had no way to know if he was telling the truth. In fact, unless she had seen someone get bitten or see the bite clearly, would anyone truthfully reveal they had been bitten?

"Can we trust him?"

"Not really. Maybe? He did something that made me doubt him. If Spencer were here, I'd trust her judgment but keep a close eye on him." Hanna said.

Paige didn't know the history there. She knew that Emily trusted him. They had been childhood friends.

"He was on the A team. But according to him it was to protect Spencer." Hanna explained. "I still think it was shitty of him to do."

Paige didn't want to just abandon him to the zombies. A didn't seem to be much of a threat right now, so did that matter? It spoke well of him that he came to check on Spencer.

But if she was going to be honest with herself, if the choice came down between Hanna or Toby, she would choose Hanna every time.

"Okay. We'll let you in, but you're going to have to do something for us." Paige said through the door. "To prove you haven't been bitten."

She didn't think she could kill another person. Not after what she had done to Melissa.

"I'll do whatever you want."

"Are there any zombies in the yard?"

"No. There were some milling about on the street but the fence is keeping them out for now."

Paige looked at Hanna. "Right. I'll clear the door. You keep an eye out for zombies in case."

Hanna nodded.

Paige pulled the couch away from the door. It was only a temporary measure. They weren't going to stay for very long. It was better than nothing. This door was their primary means of escape. It was the fastest way to their car. They couldn't block it off by much.

Before she opened the door, Paige glanced at Hanna. She didn't know if Hanna could do what she had planned. "Let's trade. Give me the gun, Hanna."

Hanna didn't hesitate. Paige gave her the machete. "Open the door."

Toby came inside quickly. He was holding a shotgun and had a knapsack slung over his shoulder. The front of his shirt was stained with blood. "Thanks. There were no zombies near by but I was getting nervous."

"Don't get comfortable just yet." Paige had the gun trained on him.

"Uh." Toby looked at Hanna. "Paige?"

"Look, I just had to take care of a bite victim. I don't want to so that again so soon. But I will. Your shirt has blood on it. And I'd rather know up front, and deal with you now instead of having you be infected and literally coming back to bite us in the ass."

"I respect that." Toby nodded.

"So strip." Paige hoped her command came with authority instead of the nervousness she felt. But now wasn't the time to be lax.

"What?" Toby said, sounding both offended and surprised.

"Take off your clothes so I know you haven't been bitten." Paige explained.

Toby set down his shotgun and his knapsack without further complaint. He took off his leather jacket and then his shirt. He had a fit body, probably from all the construction jobs Emily said he did. Those skills would come in handy.

Toby kicked off his work boots. His hands went to his belt buckle. He removed his belt and then his jeans. When he was down to his boxers, he paused. "Should I keep going?"

Paige shook her head. "No need."

"Yeah, I seriously don't think a zombie could have bit him there. Not the kind of brains they're into."

Toby winced as he pulled his jeans back up. Paige chuckled. "Don't ever change, Han."

Toby threw his blood stained shirt away. "How did you guys end up here?"

"Same as you. We wanted to grab Spencer and leave." Paige was still holding the revolver, but she was no longer pointing at him. Hanna set the machete down.

"I'd think you'd want to grab Emily before Spencer, and since she's not here… I'm sorry." Toby sounded sincere.

"Emily is safe." That's what Paige choose to believe. She was with Wayne Fields, and the man would do everything to protect his family and whoever they picked up along the way. "And that's why Spencer isn't here. She's with the Fields. They're heading out to safe zone."

"So the Hastings got out too?" Toby pulled on a green v-neck shirt that he took out of his bag.

"No. They're..." Paige explained as she glanced over at Hanna. She was quiet and holding her arms around herself. "Gone."

"The bite victim you had to take care of?" Toby asked.

"Melissa." Hanna answered. "Look don't treat me like this going to break me. It's just surreal. I'm trying to process that they're dead. But I can't get over how they died. How they came back. Zombies! What the actual fuck!"

Paige couldn't help herself, but she started laughing. Soon, Toby and Hanna joined her. The three of them were laughing hysterically for minutes.

Wiping a tear from her eye, Paige took a quick, sharp breath. "Whew. Toby, we were just about to sit down to dessert. Care to join us?"

"Sure thing. I'm starving." Toby grinned.

"Too bad you didn't get here earlier. Paige made some delicious steaks." Hanna went back to the dessert plates.

"I was a little preoccupied with my boss trying to eat me." Toby shrugged, as he went over to the sink and began to wash up.

Paige knew what that meant. That was his boss's blood he was covered in earlier. But at least all three of them had some experience in having to put down someone that they knew. It spoke well for what they would have to do should the need to do so arise in the future.

She knew zombie movies because of Emily. How many times did the survivors get screwed over because someone got bit and they hid it? Way too many times. And how many times did someone hiding the fact that their loved one was infected come back to bite the survivors in the ass? So they were going to try to be smart about this.

"Guys, dessert is served." Hanna announced. She had three plates out on the kitchen island, each with a cannoli.

"This looks great. It's cool about the steaks though. I'll just make myself something after this." Toby smiled gratefully at Hanna.

"That reminds me. We can check out what food the Hastings have. Take an inventory." Paige suggested.

"I thought we were leaving tomorrow." Hanna frowned in confusion.

"We are but it doesn't hurt to bring things with us. I think it's best to be prepared." Paige picks up her fork. "But we can get to that after dessert."

They finished off the dessert, all agreeing that it had been amazing.

"Well, I'm going to go scrape something together." Toby stood up from the table.

"Feel free to help yourself to anything that needs to be frozen or refrigerated." Paige said.

"Hands off the canned goods. I get it." Toby gave a sly grin.

"Exactly."

"The Hastings don't strike me as canned meat kind of people." Hanna waved her hands at the cabinets.

Paige thought about it. Only the best of the best for the Hastings. "You're right. We'll find something we can use. Like maybe some things from Whole Foods. Whatever we can add to what we got at the Fields place."

It would be great to have some supplies but mostly this was something to keep them busy. They also needed clothes. Medication. They didn't know what was waiting for them at the safe zone.

"Toby, how did you get here?" Paige asked. Hanna started looking through the cabinets.

Toby had a loaf of bread out. There had been some deli cuts of roast beef in the fridge. He was going to put them to good use in a sandwich apparently. He was slicing a tomato. "I hopped in my truck and I drove straight here. It was slow going. There were some wrecks on the road I had to go around. I tried to stick to side roads and avoid the interstate. The only living people I saw were driving in the other direction."

"Damn. Were they heading north? The military safe zone is up there. Not more than three hours away." Paige said.

"Well, the radio isn't telling people to head out there. It's telling them to stay in their homes." Toby looked at the two of them.

Hanna turned on the tv in the kitchen.

"... Remain indoors. The National Guard has been dispatched to Philadelphia, Pittsburg and other highly populated cities."

What was showing on the screen was a city street. The view was being filmed from above. There was a few cars on fire. It looked like there was blood in the streets, but there were no bodies. Suddenly there was gunshots. The camera zoomed in on a man down on the ground shooting what looked like people. But the three of them knew better. Those were zombies. One of them grabbed the man and started tearing into him. The footage cut back to the studio.

The anchors in the studio were still talking. "In all my years of reporting, I've not seen anything like this.."

Hanna changed the channel. It was another news channel, it was the same thing, just different. Different news anchors with grim expressions cutting to a different city's street. One where a woman in a maroon pantsuit dragged an obviously broken ankle as she shambled forward. Another channel where National Guard soldiers were fighting but losing. It looked like every time a soldier fell, he got up as the undead. A scrolling text said that this was footage from earlier.

"Do you think is happening all over the country?" Hanna voiced what everyone there had feared. "I mean they could just quarantine the state and then save us."

Paige didn't remind Hanna about how her mother had called from New York. Instead she said, "I think it was smart of us not to go out there tonight. We're not that far from the city. This might be spilling over."

Hanna flipped back to the first news channel where they had gone off air.

"Let's turn it off." Toby said. He had his sandwich made and on a plate in front of him. Hanna complied. "Did you guys find anything?"

"Yeah. Some soup, chickpeas, canned tuna and canned salmon. Jelly and some canned fruit. A bunch of scotch." Hanna shrugged. It wasn't much. The stuff they had taken from the Fields house was way more useful, and that wasn't counting what had been left for them in the bags.

"Well, I guess that's everything in terms of consumables." Paige headed toward the stairs. "I think we should pull out clothes. Things that are warm and that we can layer."

Hanna followed her up the stairs. "It seems like you're planning for the worst."

"It's better to have all this stuff now." Paige said. It doesn't hurt to be prepared. "Besides what happens when we get to the safe zone and try to issue you clothes that aren't your color?"

"Okay. I get your point."

They went through the closets. Paige figured that the food they found was going to reflect what they would find. Nothing much, but better than nothing.

The Hastings didn't seem the type that would go camping or anything out of their old money life style. Paige was grateful for the experiences she had. Her parents liked to go camping. Her grandparents taught her things whenever she visited their farm, like how to shoot and how to kill and cook an animal. She could get them through this.

Paige had grabbed some of the more practical items from Spencer's wardrobe. Hanna had done the same for Mr. and Mrs. Hastings's closet.

"Hey." Toby said to them. He had found them in the master bedroom.

"Hey, Toby. I think these could fit you." Hanna has picked out a few slacks, shirts, and sweaters that used to belong to Mr. Hastings.

"Thanks, Hanna." He picked up a heavy winter coat. "Planning a trip to Aspen?"

Paige hasn't spoken to Toby as much as she had to Caleb. But she could tell that he was joking. "It's good that the Hastings did. This will keep us warm."

Hanna pulled out a piece of luggage. She started putting the clothes away, with winter clothes at the bottom and things they'll be using in the future up top.

Paige looked around the room. "Toby, do you by any chance know where Mrs. Hastings put her jewelry?"

"What do you want that stuff for?"

"Paper money is probably going to be useless. There are going to be people that will want to trade. And maybe they'll want things like gold and diamonds and Cartier watches." Paige reasoned. She thought it was cold and unfeeling, but she had pocketed the jewelry and watches the Hastings and Wren were wearing. With the exception of Wren's watch, she planned on giving the stuff Spencer's family had on them back to the girl when they saw her.

"That makes sense." Toby admitted.

"I guess." Hanna frowned. She walked over to a vanity and pulled a drawer open. Inside, was a jewelry box. "Spencer told me."

"Thanks, Hanna." Paige took the box out and put it in the luggage.

"Hey, look at this." Toby was pointing at a safe in the bottom of the nightstand. "Mr. Hastings owns a few handguns. I think they're in there."

"Are you sure about the guns?" Paige asked.

"Every rich white man in this country owns a gun since he fears that people are going to take back what he took from them." Toby shrugged.

"Yeah, but there's a combination." Hanna tapped on the safe. It looked like it needed a four digit combination.

"Do you know when Melissa's birthday is, Han?" Paige had an idea.

"Spencer would always be pouty that day. July 18. And Spencer's is April 11."

"Try 1811."

Hanna entered the code. The door whirled open. "Aww. That's so sweet. How did you know that would work?"

"My dad does the same thing. Most passwords are my birthday." Paige gave her a sad smile. She hoped her parents were okay. She knew that her mom and dad could survive this if they had each other. But they were probably worrying about her. "Could we swing by my place tomorrow? We have some more guns and ammo there."

The truth was she couldn't leave town without leaving a note for her mom and dad. Just in case.

She looked at Hanna and Toby. She knew that Mrs. Marin was in New York. But she didn't know about Toby's family. But that was how it was. Paige could only be sure of the people she was with. She didn't know if it was better to know if your loved ones were gone because this zombie apocalypse shit or having no clue about them. At least she could pretend that they were alright. What hurt more than the not knowing, was the fact that she would probably never see her mom and dad again.

"We can do that." Toby nodded.

"How about, you guys?" Paige asked. "Do you want to stop by your places for anything?"

"I couldn't reach my dad on the phone. And I don't know about Jenna. But she always finds a way to survive." Toby said. His face was stony, Paige didn't know him enough to read him.

"I want to drop by my house. I want a picture of mom." Hanna was frowning again. Paige was sure that was not even showing half of what the blonde was feeling on the inside.

"No. That's fine." Paige understood the need for that. She wrapped her arm around Hanna and ran her hand over her hair. "We can do that."

"What do you guys want to so about sleeping? I think we should sleep in shifts." Toby rubbed his jaw.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea." Paige looked around the master bedroom. "I think we should all stay in the same room. This room."

"I'll take first shift." Paige and Toby said at the same time.

Hanna couldn't help but laugh. "And they say chivalry is dead. But, I guess not much stays dead these days. I think Paige should go first."

"So you guys don't trust me still?" Toby frowned.

"Trust is earned. I know the two of us were in The Spencer Thought We Were A Club, but one of us was actually on the A Team." Paige crossed her arms. "Maybe Emily and Spencer would vouch for you, but they aren't here. And Hanna wants me to take first watch because she doesn't trust you one hundred percent, I'm going to take first watch. I'm not going to throw you out to fend for yourself. You came here looking to save Spencer, that speaks well for you. So you're with us. But if I had to choose between you or Hanna, I'm saving her."

"Good. That's what I would want." Toby said.

"Right answer. Glad we're clear on that." Paige nodded. She hoped it wouldn't come down to that, but she felt that she could make that decision when it came down to it. If. She meant if it came down to it.

"You know I'm still in the room." Hanna stomped over to the bed. "What if I want you to save the other over me?"

Toby and Paige shared a look, and through that passed a silent agreement. They both knew that the blonde was very important to their respective girlfriends. She was to be protected at all costs. Maybe Toby could be trusted after all.

A pillow sailed through the air and smacked Toby in the head. Hanna didn't look happy with either of them. "You can sleep on the floor."

Toby nodded. "I'll go get some more blankets."

"You do that." Hanna spat.

The carpenter left the master bedroom. Hanna glared at Paige. Then she walked over to the bed and pulled back the comforter on the king sized bed.

"Hanna," Paige tried. "I know I shouldn't talk about you like you're not here."

"Yeah. What if I want you to save Toby instead? Spencer lost her whole family. I couldn't do that to her."

"You're like family to Spencer. Same with Emily. I couldn't do that to her." Paige explained.

Hanna stared at her. "I- This is so fucked up. I shouldn't have to choose who lives and who dies."

"You don't. I will." Paige stepped forward.

"I don't want you to have to do that again." Hanna closed her eyes.

Paige didn't want to bring up how getting bitten meant Melissa was already good as dead. The bullet was a mercy. The real life or death decisions came when they had to decide who comes along or who gets left behind. Even between who would get their resources and who would not. She had to be harder to survive.

Which she hated.

She had started coming into herself. Her walls were down. She no longer had a reason to hide who she was out of fear and survival. She had let people in. She had Emily, and other friends she could trust.

That all went out the window now.

She didn't want to go back. But she had to in this new world.

Toby came back into the room carrying a stack of comforters and sheets. "Hey."

"Let's get you set up." Paige moved over to help him.

She didn't have to be a complete asshole. She could help Toby and show him some kindness. Maybe in she had been given the option, Paige would have joined the A team to project Emily. But she couldn't say for sure.

"Thanks."

Together, they made what could pass for a decent sleeping spot. "I'm actually looking forward to sleeping on this."

"It comes from years of being an experienced blanket fort architect." Paige joked as she sat back on her heels, but was still kneeling. "Get whatever sleep you can."

"I'm sure it won't be much." Toby crawled into the makeshift mattress.

Paige agreed with him. She doubted she would get any sleep when it was her turn. At the moment, her thoughts were filled with worry for her parents. Her mother could keep a level head, but her father tended to lose his when it came to his little girl being in danger.

She had been born prematurely. That affected Nick McCullers greatly. The possibility of losing his daughter before even really having her weighed heavily in all his decisions. He did his best to protect her, even if it meant him blundering through every situation. God, she hoped her father didn't do anything stupid because of his worry for her.

Paige picked up one of the guns they had, the rifle, and leaned against the dresser. She faced the door. She checked her phone, but there was no signal. There was no new messages or voice mail. There was nothing. She grabbed a charger for her phone and plugged it in. It was probably a futile task, but it got her mind off things for a minute.

She took up her position of watching the door again. She was sure she'd hear the zombies get inside the house before they got inside the room. But she was hoping they wouldn't get inside at all. They had set up barricades to the doors that lead outside. And there was the fence in front of the property. They were being careful. Still, she'd rather stay awake and be vigilant than wake up to her internal organs being eaten. She shuddered.

A couple of hours passed, and Paige went to the window. She peaked out past the curtains. The street in front of the house seemed to be empty. But a figure stumbled under a street light and Paige reeled back with a gasp.

She glanced over at her companions. Toby and Hanna were actually sleeping. That was good. She looked back out at the street. The zombie was still there. Paige wondered who it was. It was probably one of Spencer's neighbors. It was best not to think about who it used to be.

The minutes moved slowly. She found a pen and paper in one the drawers. She started to write a letter out to her parents to pass the time. What did you put in a letter that no one might ever read?

_Mom and Dad,_

_I__'__m okay. It__'__s November 5. If you__'__re reading this and it__'__s been days, please find a safe zone. We__'__re heading to one. Get to one and don__'__t try to look for me. If you__'__re reading this months or years later, if you__'__re reading this at all__… __I love you. - Paige _

She put it in an envelope and addressed it to her parents. She'd leave it for them at their house. She didn't know whether she wanted them to get a chance to read it or not.

She wasn't tired, but she decided to wake up Toby for the next watch. She was didn't trust Toby fully, but she figured she wouldn't be able to fall asleep until it was Hanna's shift. That way she could keep an eye out on Toby in case he tried anything. The number one rule was it was better to be safe than sorry.

She decided to keep a gun within reach. It made her feel better.


End file.
